SEX OFFENDER OFFS HIMSELF AT PAWN SHOP

A level 3 sex offender shot and killed himself Saturday morning in the parking lot of a Mountain Home pawn shop, police said.

Samuel Gray, 49, walked into the Mountain Home Gun and Pawn Shop at about 9:30 a.m. and asked to look at a shotgun, said Mountain Home Police Chief Carry Manuel. "Mr. Gray took a shotgun off the shelf and then exited the building with it in his hands," Manuel said. "He then loaded the gun and shot himself."

Manuel said Gray was carrying ammunition for the weapon when he entered the pawn shop.

The Baxter County Coroner’s Office pronounced Gray dead at the scene.

Gray was listed as a level 3 sex offender after being convicted on two felony counts involving a minor, according to the Arkansas Criminal Information Center. The ACIC’s Web site didn’t list the date or place of Gray’s offenses.

Over the last six months, Gray had been charged with multiple criminal offenses in Baxter County.

During a bail hearing in February for a failure to register as a sex offender charge, Gray had to be removed from the courtroom after a heated exchange with Judge John Putman. The judge ordered sheriff’s deputies to return Gray to the Baxter County Detention Center. As Gray was escorted from the courtroom he wrestled with officers.

Gray was sentenced to one day in jail in April and assessed a $110 fine and $100 in court costs for a misdemeanor public intoxication charge. In November Gray was sentenced to 23 days in jail and assessed $100 in court costs for violating a no-contact order.